Beginning in May, 2024 heavy rains in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul has killed 39 people, with another 68 still missing, as record-breaking floods devastated cities and forced thousands to leave their homes.
It was the fourth such environmental disaster in a year, following floods in July, September and November 2023 that killed 75 people in total.
The flooding statewide has surpassed that seen during a historic 1941 deluge, according to the Brazilian Geological Service. In some cities, water levels were at their highest since records began nearly 150 years ago, the state civil defense agency said.
A dam at a hydroelectric plant between the cities of Bento Goncalves and Cotipora partially collapsed and entire cities in the Taquari River valley, like Lajeado and Estrela, were completely overtaken by water.
In the town of Feliz, 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the state capital, Porto Alegre, a massively swollen river swept away a bridge that connected it with the neighboring city of Linha Nova.
Without internet, telephone service or electricity, residents struggled to provide updates or information to their relatives living in other states. Helicopters flew continually over the cities while stranded families with children awaited rescue on the rooftops.
Isolete Neumann, 58, lives in the city of Lajeado in the Taquari River valley and told The Associated Press she has never before seen a scenario like the one she is now experiencing.
People were making barricades in front of hospitals with sand and gravel. It felt like a horror movie, she said by phone. Some people in her region were so desperate, she added, that they threw themselves into the water currents.
Weather across South America is affected by the climate phenomenon El Niño, a periodic, naturally occurring event that warms surface waters in the Equatorial Pacific region. In Brazil, El Niño has historically caused droughts in the north and intense rainfall in the south.
This year, the impacts of El Niño have been particularly dramatic, with a historic drought in the Amazon. Scientists say extreme weather is happening more frequently due to human-caused climate change.
Models have long predicted that Rio Grande do Sul will continue to see an increase in average annual precipitation and extreme precipitation, meaning more concentrated and severe rainfall.
NBC / ABC Flash Point News 2024.
People falling victim to international policies.
Building alongside riverbanks and ocean coastlines is asking for trouble these days, but hey fisherman villages can not be established inland.
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